Member Questions

My son is 6 months and the last 3 months have been pretty tough. We have really wrestled with understanding what could be bothering him. My newest theory is that he isn't getting enough sleep/naps. He is a VERY active baby and is easily stimulated; he would rather play than breastfeed (exhausting work for me but fun for everyone else) and just be a part of the action. That said, we are looking to implement a stronger routine for him. I am curious if other moms could offer feeding/eating/sleeping schedules of their children at 6 months keeping in mind that this child would stay awake all day if he could (when we visited our in-laws, in a 240hour period, he would sleep 8 hours because nobody would try to put him to sleep). Thanks in advance for your feedback!”

I am a new mom with an almost six month old. She loves to sleep about 12hrs around 9-9 with one or two feedings in the middle of the night. During the day, she gets to crawl, creep, roll, and or jump around. We get her out of house--well my husband or grandma (whomever is watching her). She is going longer between feedings and when she does she nurses about 7-15 minutes. I think it depends what my milk is like--sometimes with more foremilk she will nurse until she gets the good stuff. I am thinking: is your son in the middle or top of his age group according to well-baby check-ups? My little one is 95% in her height and weight...she is top 5%...so I don't know if that makes a difference. Also, I am not a big routine person but when it comes to food and sleep I try to make those predictable so she has a natural pattern:
Sleeps between 9-9:30, nurses around 2AM
Nurses at 6:30AM
Wakes at 9-9:30AM
Plays until 11:15or so
Naps 11:30-12 or 12:30
Bottle 12 or 12:30
Naps 1:30
Nurses 2:30
Naps 3-4PM
Jump/C;reep/Tummy time 4-4:30
Naps 5:30-6PM
More jump, crawl, tummy fun time 6-7PM
Nap 7-7:30
Nurse and then solids 7:30-7:45PM
Play, talk, etc 7:45PM-8:45PM
Bedtime routine: always: pajamas, read and sing, nurse or pacifier (bath ever other night)
Hope that helps. :)

I didn't force it, but my daughter was a cat napper. She slept very hard for 30 minutes, would be up for two hours, then sleep for 30 minutes. A friend of mine kept her while I was working and thought I was nuts, but when I picked her up that first night, she told me you could set a clock by her naps. She did this from about two months old until she was a year old. She slept great at night.
Her napping internal schedule looked like this:
7:00 - up for the day
9:00 - nap
9:30 - wake
11:30 - nap
12:00 - wake
2:00 - nap
2:30 - wake
4:30 - nap
5:00 - wake
7:00 - nap
7:30 - wake
9:00 - sleep for the night